KARACHI: Anti-socials harass students of women’s college
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 16: Drug addicts, battered footpaths, scattered garbage and unchecked encroachments along Chand Bibi Road (Queen’s Road), in Saddar, are a constant source of considerable discomfort for the students of a girls’ college in the vicinity.
The students of Government Karachi College for Women complained that they are pestered by the overall environment, civic facilities and constant vigilance of anti-social elements in the vicinity of the college.
“We arrive fresh every morning to attend classes, but most of the time we have to face such embarrassing or disturbing situations that they trouble us for the rest of the day,” said a degree class student.
A number of drug addicts are frequently seen sitting or moving about near the main college entrance or along the footpath adjacent to the college. They can be found freely inhaling or injecting heroin into their system, teasing the students or following them to beg for money, said an Intermediate-level student.
A senior teacher said that despite repeated reports and requests to the authorities and agencies concerned, they had failed to provide any kind of relief to both the students or the teachers of the college.
The girl students need to be saved from the indecent remarks, gestures and uncalled for appearance of the drug addicts and gypsies who have set up sanctuaries near the college. They not only create ugly scenes but also become a source of pestilence for other passersby, added a teacher.
The Government College for Women was established in 1958 in a bungalow in Saddar. It was later shifted to its present building, a declared protected heritage site at Chand Bibi Road, in 1961. The college has a degree-college status in Science and Humanities faculties as well and at present, there are over 2000 students enrolled who are taught by an academic staff of 50.
The students also complained about poor waste management in the area and maintained that despite promises, the competent authorities were soft-peddling the shifting of the kutchra kundi located opposite the college and catering mostly to the need of the nearby Civil Hospital.
It is horrible how scavengers of all ages start going through the refuse bin and scatter the waste including plastic bottles, syringes and bandages, disposed off by the hospital, carelessly in the surrounding area, they said.
The students claimed that sometimes the bin was left unattended by the sanitation staff for days at an end. On other days, the garbage was set on fire, causing suffocation and unbearable smoke and smell for students attending classes nearby, another teacher said.
The biggest threat to the female students comes from anti- social elements, while on their way to college or home. But the police personnel have always failed to deal with it. These elements disappear for a couple of days when the area police officials are approached by the college principal or other senior teachers. But as soon as the police vigil turns slack, they start their offending practice again, noted the students.
On the other hand, the teachers informed this reporter that some weeks back their lockers were broken into and their personal belongings were stolen during the night by unknown persons who had entered the premises by scaling the wall of the college. This shows how unsafe we really are, complained a lab attendant.
The students have demanded an overall improvement in the surroundings of the college, shifting of the kutchra kundi that had also been promised a long time ago by the City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, during his visit to the college.
They added that the authorities should order freeing the area from the menace of drug addicts and other anti-social elements, as well as encroachers, particularly during college hours, and also take up the repair and reconstruction of footpaths in the area.
